Today, we will be sharing the notes and important takeaways from the tafseer lectures of surah yusuf by nouman ali khan on Bayyinah institute youtube channel. This article will cover the fourth ayah of surah yusuf, which talks about the dream Yusuf (a.s) had before he was taken and sold by his brothers.
Fun Parts: 00:00, 7:10, 9:00, 13:55, 14:50, 18:35, 41:30,
Ayat 4 (Part 1 of Scene 1):
When Yusuf (a.s) said to his father “my beloved father! It is I who has certainly seen 11 stars and the sun and the moon prostrating for me”
Scene 1 (Ayah 4, 5 and 6): Personal private conversation initiated by the son to his father. And every scene has lessons embedded in it.
Quran dove directly into the scene, without introducing the characters etc.
The son starts talking to the father, which you wouldn’t expect, because in the Quran, the parent initiates a conversation, but here we find the reverse happening when the son is initiating the conversation.
There is a lesson for parents of the kind of relationship there should be between parents and children, that they are comfortable talking about anything with their parents because the parents are paying attention and will listen to them. At a certain age, children start picking up on things so you have to pay attention to them.
There is guidance for the children: when something goes wrong you need to be able to talk to your parents. You have the right to be heard, and you should go and make an attempt to speak with parents.
Initially, the child is fighting for the attention of the parents, but as the child grows and makes friends the parents are fighting for his attention. The parents or caretaker did allow their kids to share everything that they experience actually did something that is the legacy of Quran: raised you like Yaqoob (a.s) raised Yusuf (a.s) to the point where the son felt welcomed, comfortable and protective to share everything with him.
Partake in activities that the child is doing and let the child get involved in the activities that you do. In parenting, experience matters more than buying objects to them and these experiences will be remembered by the child throughout his life more than the objects. A bond is built between parents and children by doing things together and experiencing things. This builds a type of closeness that cannot be built by just daily interaction (how are you? What was your day like? Bye.). So we have to create an environment so beautiful that our kids communicate with us and we are not the ones that are trying to communicate with them.
Yusuf (a.s) said to his father “my father….” But even if we remove the father term, it would be clear. So the phrase “my father…”? seems redundant!!!
For Yusuf (a.s) the ‘go-to’ is his father, that again we need to nurture our children in a way that we are their support. Most cultures, father is only there for outdoor stuff and there is no interaction with the children.
Ya Abati: Oh my beloved father (he could have used Ya Abi: my father), this suggests two things: Love and Respect. Sometimes you show love but not respect (you say you love your dad/ mom, but you talk back or don’t obey them) and other times you respect, but you don’t love (a minister walks in and the soldiers show respect, but they may not love him)(you are so formal and scared of your dad that you show respect but not love).
Yusuf (a.s) looks to his father with love and is taught what it means to respect his father because he addresses him with respect. Both things go hand in hand. We don’t have to become dictators to teach respect to our children and in order to show our kids love, we don’t let them cross the line in love that they become disrespectful (thinking they will get away with it because we love them too much). This all is encapsulated in just the way he addresses his father (YA ABATI).
11 Stars, the sun and the moon- there is a lot to say about the sequence of the names mentioned.
He already lets us know that he is disturbed by this dream through the sequence. MY VIEW IS THAT, Stars for the night sky are a source of beauty or they may be a source of guidance and comfort (navigation- those on journeys). We may not depend on our siblings, but at some point in our life journey we may want guidance from them. Siblings should beautify our lives and they are always there ( a part of your life), but the Sun (sustains life on earth) and the Moon (tides, ocean currents, temperature regulation) play an important role in our lives.
The earth revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the Earth showing two dimensions of parental relationship. At some point in our life, we are going to our parents for care and at a certain age our parents turn towards us (even after that we are the beneficiaries-moon benefits the earth not the other way around) and are in a need of us.
At home you got a clock and a calendar, but Allah (s.w.t) put in the sky a clock (Sun) and a calendar (Moon) so our entire lives are organized by this clock and this calendar (inform how we lead our lives). This show, the powerful influence parents have on the life of their children. No conversation you have with your child is insignificant; you don’t know which conversation will shape their lives. Maybe he didn’t think this was epic in his life, but it was epic enough to be there in the Quran for all humanity to learn from and none of it should go unnoticed.
This also shows that when kids speak, it may not be important for me and you but it’s important to Allah (s.w.t), so many lessons of parenting in a single ayah. SubhanAllah!!.
“I certainly did see 11 stars, the sun and the moon”- shows that he is saying something that is hard to believe (Father won’t believe this). There is a tension and stress in the way Yusuf (a.s) is speaking. Before saying this, he indirectly told his father that he loves and respects him because my dream may sound disrespectful. Sometimes, you gotta have a conversation with your loved one about something that might get you in trouble because it sounds bad. As hard as it sounds, you need to have it. (Transparency can only solve the problem- leads to love and respect-even if it is a hard conversation).
Why is he saying that “I certainly did see 11 stars, the sun and the moon, I saw them” why is he saying “I saw them” again. One interpretation, the first time he saw them (ordinary), but the second time he saw them doing something that they don’t normally do. He gets to the part that bothers him so much (out of the ordinary that he starts over).
When someone is doing sajda before someone, that is a very close thing, but the stars, the sun and the moon are not close. He is already bothered by the fact there will be a time in his life that he is going to be far away from his brothers and parents, but eventually they will come close and close enough that they would be doing sajda because of me.
“Ra’aitahum”- used for people, so as he is speaking he has already interpreted the dream and we can see that the part that bothered him the most is that his parents will go far away and will then humble before him (not he humbling himself before his parents) for some reason.
He is bothered by being the center of attention.
Ibrahim (a.s) built the Kaaba, so that sajda is done only to Allah (s.w.t) and Allah (s.w.t) says in the Quraan that it is only to Allah (s.w.t) everything in the skies and the earth does sajda. But how come Sajda to Yusuf (a.s) or angels doing sajda to Adam (a.s) or why magicians doing sajda to Musa (a.s)?
The magician's fell into Sajda in the story of Musa (a.s) not to Musa (a.s) because of Musa (a.s), (for what he did). They saw the Magnificent power of God and they fell into Sajda and when you study sajda as a theme in the Quran you will find whenever something miraculous happenS people are so overpowered by God's mighty plan or God's ability to and power over all things that they collapse. Similarly, angels were commanded to do sajda to Allah (s.w.t). Because Allah (s.w.t) has created such a magnificent creation that they are in awe of their maker at what he has made, they fell in sajda. It is as if when something incredible happens you always fall into sajda to Allah (s.w.t). They saw the Divine Plan come to fruition; they were humbled before Allah because of Yusuf (a.s) not to Yusuf (a.s).
In literature, we find people saying this is “sajda-tu-takreem” that before the Quran it was okay for you to do Sajda to other than Allah out of respect (opinion). I did not find a single authentic hadith attributed to the Prophet (s.a.w), nor do I find anything in the Quran explicitly that compels me to accept that view. It was Ibrahim (a.s) who taught his children Islam and how to do sajda only to Allah (s.w.t) or why would he build the Kaaba and then he teaches kids by the way you can do sajda out of respect to others sometimes. The Kaaba is built so you do sajda towards it. I have a hard time thinking that Ibrahim (a.s) had a different version of the worship of sajda in which sajda to someone other than Allah (s.w.t) was possible and later on after the prophet's life that was expired and now you can only do Sajda to Allah (s.w.t).
I have a hard time accepting that as a logical thing and Ibrahim (a.s) taught his son Ismael (a.s) and Ishaq (a.s). I'm pretty sure even though those two kids are from two different moms he teaches them the same Islam and ishaq (a.s) is younger, which means the Kaaba is already built. Then Ishaq teaches his son, and his son teaches Yusuf (a.s) the same islam.
In jail, Yusuf (a.s) said he follows the religion of his father Ibrahim (a.s), so it's the same Islam in which sajda is only done to Allah (s.w.t). This is a house built for that purpose there was an actual house built for that purpose which is why even generations later Musa (a.s), when he went to madyan and he already knew Hajj. Where will Musa (a.s) gonna get a Hajj from: from the legacy of his father Ibrahim (a.s) and that’s why sajda was done not to Yusuf (a.s) but because of a miracle.
What is so miraculous about me, that these are doing sajda to me, this is what bothered me and I don’t mean disrespect? King was also bothered by the dream he didn’t know, but Yusuf (a.s) is bothered by a dream (he knows) and yet incredibly powerful and profound is the response of his father.
SEE THE RESPONSE OF THE FATHER YAQOOB (A.S) TO SON YUSUF (A.S):
Tafseer of Surah Yusuf Part 5 (Don’t tell your brothers) by Nouman Ali Khan | 5th Ayah #9
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